JAPANESE ALLEGATION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 112, 21 February 1941, Page 5

JAPANESE ALLEGATION

TENDENCY IN INDO-CHINA. INCREASINGLY PRO-BRITISH. ' ( EFFECT OF MASSING OF TROOPS. (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) TOKIO, February 20. Violating the armistice agreement, Indo-Chinese troops along the border fired on Thai troops, says a Japanese report, quoting a Bangkok newspaper, which adds that the Thai forces did not reply. The Domei News A gency stated. that there were mounting indications of the rapid drift of Indo-China authorities to the pro-British camp of General de Gaulle. Survey revealed the successive adoption by the French authorities of economic and military measures designed to checkmate Japanese influence in South-east Asia, the tendency increasing as a result of strong British and American reaction to Japanese mediation inj the- 'Thailand - IndoChina conflict, coupled with the massing of British, Indian and Australian forces on Thailand’s southern and western borders. The British, aiding “the French military preparations, had sent 200 planes to Saigon from Singapore. The British were also sending ammunition to China via , Indo-China, with the connivance of the French. THE JAPANESE. AIR FORCE. CONCENTRATION REPORTED. • ‘ SOUTH CHINA SEAS VENTURE. (Received This Day, 11 a.m.) CHUNGKING, February 20. ' A military spokesman said that over half the Japanese Air Force on the Asiatic mainland is concentrated in Hainan, Indo-China and Kwantung. He added'that the Japanese were transferring the bulk of their troops in Central China to Formosa and Hainan to assist possible operations in the South China Seas. DESIRABILITY OF LEAVING. BRITISH WOMEN IN THAILAND. (Received This Day, 9.10 a.m.) BANGKOK, February 20. The British Minister informed the Thai Government that British subjects have not been ordered to leave Thailand. Ho merely suggested the desirability of British subjects arranging for their wives and ehildcn to leave Thailand for the present.